To witness an injured or dying baby elephant at the hands of poachers can turn ones life around. Their work at HERD, Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development Elephant Orphanage, is meant to save the lives of elephants not watch them slowly fade away. But sometimes the little elephants are too badly hurt and they are not able to hold on. This was the case with one little elephant that had been snared, so cruelly and viciously, and left to die. These are the emotions swirling and giving life to the following impassioned message to us all.

 

HERD (3) Elephant Manager Tigere Matipedza: “Fenya and Khanyisa, they were both victims of snaring which was quite traumatic for us. To see those young elephants come in our care, it was quite overwhelming when we… especially when we received Khanyisa.”

“She was very, very… I mean,  traumatized due to the snaring around her neck and the leg, as well. And also the fact that she spent so much time being alone, so the lonely… loneliness was also one of the things that actually drained her beyond all measures. So, it was very sad.” 

 

 

“Then a year after that we received another elephant by the name of Fenya. Unfortunately, she passed away, also as a result of snaring. It is hurtful. Sometimes, you know, you have no ways to speak on such type of behaviors.”

“People must learn to do what is good, what is right, for the sake of our children and their future as well – lays on our hands. So, we need to be humans and take our responsibilities. Each one of us has a role to play so that these animals are well looked after.” 

“And they deserve to be animals, to be taken care of, and then also to be looked after. So, out there everybody has a role to play to make sure that these animals are looked after.”

 

 

 

“What happened to Fenya is a very, very sad story which actually made each one of us, our hearts to bleed. She came in strengthless, I mean, skin and bones. To see those kind of things  is not good, is not health wise, it is not just for everybody.” 

“But I do appreciate the effort that Adine Roode (founder HERD) put on that matter to make sure that that young elephant had support, she received love and all the necessary things that she should have out there. They provide that. But unfortunately she (Fenya) was badly injured and then, eventually, she passed away.”

 

 

“So, what I am saying today, people, is let us take our responsibility, let us be there for a reason, do something to make the difference. So, I am asking you people to unite and work together.”

“On the other side of the fence, I mean, there are poor people that are trying to make a living out of the poverty. But that does not give them the right to put or plant snares so they can get to animals as a result of food in daily basis. That is wrong.” 

“We understand the situation that there is lack of employment in the country. But if we keep on killing these animals, snaring these animals then we have so many people that are employed in these sectors when it comes to animals (unintelligible).”

 

 

“So, if we lose all the animals then we are causing harm done (unintelligible) better. So, as African, I understand or I believe that we lack some kind of knowledge about our ecosystem. Why those animals are there, what is the reason? So, every single thing, every single animal there from a fly to an elephant, they have a role to play. You should look after them as humans.”

“So, our childrens future based on what we teach them today. We need to teach them what is good, okay. What are the benefits of our ecosystem. How should we look after our ecosystem, that includes animals, as well.”

 

(Source 1)

 

“I am sure you have seen a lot about our elephants. I mean, it hurt. How they were eating pumpkins and after that they dropped the dung out there. And then you have the pumpkin seeds germinating from the elephant dung. And then it ended up in our aquaponics. You see, that is one life cycle. That teaches us a lot about these animals.”

“So, they do that to grass. They eat grass out in the bush. They drop the dungs and the grass germinates. Then you have animals like… well, tortoise. Does not walk far away, and can eat grass from there.” 

“You can have a (unintelligible) dieca. You can have a herd there. They all pick that grass, they eat that grass to survive. But it is from a seed, an elephant dung, and it is also supporting another animals on the other side.”

 

 

“So, that kind of knowledge needs to be passed on next generation. But it needs to start now and it must start with us. It is our responsibility to make sure that we give that kind of education to our children so that they can manage their future when we are long gone.”

#StopSnaring  HERD (3)

 

Images and transcribed from: CC Video by HERD Elephant Orphanage,  ‘STOP SNARING ~ A Message from HERD Elephant Manager, Tigere Matipedza’ (1); Images of Fenya from cc video by HERD Elephant Orphanage, ‘Farewell to Baby Elephant Orphan, Snare Victim, Fenya’ (2)

 

PLEASE DONATE – ‘Help the HERD’  HERD elephant orphanage (4)  

 

Sources:

(1) Creative Commons Video by HERD, ‘STOP SNARING ~ A Message from HERD Elephant Manager, Tigere Matipedza’ https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=EYNmhE31fuY

(2) Creative Commons Video by HERD Elephant Orphanage, ‘Farewell to Baby Elephant Orphan, Snare Victim, Fenya’    https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=84NgCVz-qt8

(3) https://herd.org.za

(4) https://herd.org.za/help-the-herd/

 

 

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